5 Things To Know in the Colorado Legislature

DENVER - Your weekly look at what's coming up at the Colorado Legislature:

MONEY MATTERS

Everyone at the Capitol has Tuesday circled with a red pen. Lawmakers will receive a quarterly revenue forecast that will be their last gauge of Colorado's economy before they finalize a $20 billion spending plan for the next year. Of special interest will be updated predictions on taxes from the new recreational marijuana industry.

EDUCATION SHOWDOWN

The revenue forecast plays a big role on some big-ticket items facing the House Education Committee. The committee plans to resume work Wednesday on measures to restore hundreds of millions to public schools. The measures attempt to revive parts of the voter-rejected school finance overhaul the Legislature passed last year, but teachers and school districts alike want to see big changes to this year's school-funding bills.

REMOTE TESTIMONY

Sometimes people who want to testify on a bill at the Capitol need to drive several hours to come to Denver. But a bill getting its first committee hearing in the House Monday would get the ball rolling on establishing locations around the state where people can give remote testimony. At least one location would have to be in the Western Slope. Currently, two states allow remote testimony - Alaska and Nevada.

VACCINE DEBATE

The full House could see a debate this week on a measure that stirs strong opinions. A measure to make it harder to opt out of vaccines before children attend school or day care easily passed a House committee last week, but not before hours of testimony that kept lawmakers working late into the night.

GOVERNMENT TRANSPARENCY

It's Sunshine Week, and a Senate committee is taking up a House bill to limit fees for people exercising the Colorado Open Records Act. The hourly search rate would be capped at four times the minimum wage - an effective increase at many state agencies.(Copyright 2014 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)